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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices
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To: TimF who wrote (564420)5/3/2010 7:28:14 PM
From: tejek1 Recommendation  Read Replies (1) of 1577782
 
The New York Times has an article describing widespread tax evasion in Greece, along with an implication that the country’s fiscal crisis is largely the result of unpaid taxes and could be mostly solved if taxpayers were more obedient to the state. This is grossly inaccurate. A quick look at the budget numbers reveals that tax revenues have remained relatively constant in recent years, consuming nearly 40 percent of GDP. The burden of government spending, by contrast, has jumped significantly and now exceeds 50 percent of Greek economic output.

How does that derail the NY Times argument? Tax revenues may not have grown because Greeks were refusing to pay their taxes. The NY Times makes a good argument.......Greeks are not known for their honesty; to whit:


"In the wealthy, northern suburbs of this city, where summer temperatures often hit the high 90s, just 324 residents checked the box on their tax returns admitting that they owned pools.

Athenians declared taxes at a local office. Greek’s shadow economy represents 20 to 30 percent of its G.D.P.
So tax investigators studied satellite photos of the area — a sprawling collection of expensive villas tucked behind tall gates — and came back with a decidedly different number: 16,974 pools."

In fact, Greece cooked its books so it could get into the EU. That's why the Germans are furious now. Greeks lied about the amount of debit the country was carrying.

And then there is this:

"The problem in Greece is not so much reducing wages as reducing the numbers. We employ four times as many teachers per capita as the Finns. The public sector is simply overstaffed because politicians for too long have used jobs to get votes," he said.

This is where your talents are needed....in Greece. Greece has been riding a house of cards for years.
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